CAMPAIGNERS in Handforth have begun a bid for independence by callingfor a split with their Wilmslow neighbours and the right to have their own parish council.

More than 700 people in the village have put their names to a petition calling for a separate Handforth Community Council rather than an all encompassing Wilmslow Town Council that would annex Handforth within it.

The campaign is spearheaded by former Macclesfield Borough Councillor Barry Burkhill and David Pincombe - both representing the Handforth Ratepayers Association.

They argue that Handforth would lose its own identity and be swallowed up by a Wilmslow Town Council, which they say would be "expensive, powerless and unnecessary".

Mr Burkhill, who presented the petition to Cheshire East on Monday (September 21), said the council will now have to hold a Community Governance Review in the village to seek residents' opinions on the issue.

He said: "The setting up and running of a town council is expensive and it will be powerless. Many parts of the country which have gone down this route are now wishing they hadn't bothered. Letchworth set up a town council in 2005 which proved so expensive and unpopular that they abolished it last year!

"It has been a very easy task to collect signatures on our petition because, like us, residents feel that Handforth has its own identityand is a community on its own entitled to two councillors on Cheshire East Council."

Under the Local Government and Public Involvement and Health Act 2007 a council has to carry out a Communty Governance Review if it is handed a valid petition asking for one that is signed by at least 10 per cent of the electorate.

"We got 580 signatures in no time and presented a 720 signature petition to Cheshire East on Monday. "We want to protect Handforth from the ambitions of Wilmslow and their councillors who are hell bent on dragging our village into an expensive, powerless and unnecessary town council," said Mr Pincombe.

Mr Burkhill added: â€œThe Handforth Ratepayers Association and its councillors have protected and looked after Handforth for many years but we are not a statutory body and as much as we hate the idea of setting up another tier of government, we are determined to put Handforth first and protect our residents from paying any more council tax to an expensive Wilmslow Town Council.

"Any Handforth Community Council would be free. We would not charge our council taxpayers any more money. We already pay enough tax to Cheshire East Council so why should we be charged twice, especially when very many of us are struggling financially to keep our household bills down?"